A Good Article about Book Cover Design

A Good Article about Book Cover DesignAugust 31, 2016D. L. Keur

I was going to write an article about designing book covers…since I see so many bad ones, and, honestly, by client desire, I have myself created many very bad, even ugly book covers for self-publishing authors, covers that I would never lay claim.

Why?

Because it’s rare that I get to actually design covers for self-publishing authors.

I do for trad publishers, but not the indies. Why is that?

Because indies want what they want, and what they want is just the same ol’, same ol’–not just genre normal, but boringly so. Or they want something they’ve got stuck in their head, and it is really, really bad. Or they want lots and lots of ‘stuff’ on their cover.

You’ve seen the covers I’m talking about, I’m sure. And, yes, I could share some examples, but I won’t. I don’t dare, not without raising ire.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was going to write an article about designing book covers, so, on a whim, I decided, first, to see what somebody else may have out there that’s worthwhile, and I found a gem. I could add more observations, hints, and pointers to the author’s, along with my own perspectives, but I think I’ll leave that for another day. So, here ya go:

My 5 Star Novels

And I'm extremely happy with them. Superior tech support; superior service. I always recommend them to my website design clients. Always. (Yes, I design websites, too, but I'm not cheap for a very, very good reason.) Of course, I do suggest VPS or PS service, rather than shared hosting, but that's a given if you're serious. And it's not expensive. REALLY.

Here's a very old Smiley I made way, way back, and I still think he's cute:

Thoughts on art in general and my own art specifically

What point of view tends to stamp your work and why? Now, while I agree that the subject tends to define the point of view, there is a tendency for one's own style to begin to dictate a pattern of POV choices. What is yours and why? What is your conscious, subconscious or even unconscious reason for choosing your most oft used POV in a work. Even a sculpt holds a point of view, albeit a very 3D rotational one. I guess what I am driving at here is, what attitude and why that attitude?

My love is the play of light and shadow, the quality of light, the subtleties of what is not seen, or is hinted at, interpreted from what can be seen.